Tena Tarman - Army Nurse Corps Veteran

The following article was written by Sherry Lindeman as a tribute to her aunt Tena Tarman who
celebrated her 100th birthday on December 9, 2006 at Synder Village in Metamora.
Tena Tarman was born December 9, 1906 on a farm south of Minonk, Illinois. She was named for her
maternal grandmother, Trienje Luppen Gelster.

Tena’s mother, Fredericka Gelster Janssen Tarman came to the United States from Ostfriesland, Germany in 1892 at the age of eighteen. In June 1893 she married Paul Janssen and they lived on the Janssen farm south of Minonk. They were parents of John, Henry (Hank) and Anna Janssen. Paul Janssen died in 1898.

Tena’s mother married John Tarman who was the son of German emigrants in 1903 and they continued to live on the Janssen farm. They were the parents of Irene Tarman Goliwas Tena, and Charles (Bob)Tarman. Tena’s father died in 1910 and her mother was left to raise six children and run the farm.

Tena attended the Woodford School until her mother and the younger children moved to Minonk in
1918. She graduated from Minonk High School in 1925 and from Brokaw School of Nursing in Normal, Illinois in 1930.

On December 27, 1943 half of her hospital unit boarded a troop ship on Staten Island for the trip
to England. The other half of the unit was on another ship. They had to wear their dress uniforms, a skirt, shirt, jacket and long over coat with a hood to board the ship, and always had to carry their canteen, first aid kit , gas mask. They were the first women aboard the ship since it was outfitted to carry troops. Tena said there were thirty-two nurses, two Red Cross workers, several doctors, and five thousand men on the ship. The medical corp men also traveled with the unit.

They sailed on December 28th in a convoy, zigzagging across the Atlantic. The ship was so crowded
that they only had time to serve two meals a day, and there were not enough life boats for everyone.
The nurses worked “sick bay” on the ship, and quite a few of the men had the measles, so they were busy.

They landed at Liver Pool, England, and took a train to Castle Carry in southern England where
they were stationed until June 1944. From January 1944 until June much time was spent in training, and
training the medical corps men who would be working with the nurses and the doctors in the field hospital.

The nurses had time off, so Tena was able to do a lot of traveling in England. The high light for her
was a week’s leave, spent in London and northern England with her brother who was stationed in Ireland.

All the nurses worked twelve hour shifts, and they usually changed shifts after each move.
The hospital was usually set up near a stream of water that was used by the hospital. Chlorine was put in the water to purify it.
Tena was usually in charge of the abdominal and chest ward; and her patients were usually on IV’S . She said sometimes the patient’s blood pressure had to be taken every 15 minutes. Her ward usually had about 40 patients with several other nurses and corpsmen.

The nurses lived in tents, five nurses to a tent . Their hospital was never hit by bombs or gunfire; but
they heard German V bombs and German planes going over head as well as gun fire from the battle.

The hospital moved about every ten days, depending how the battle was going. They always moved
at night under blackout conditions, riding in the back of open trucks with sixteen nurses to each truck.
Tena said there was always a short prayer service each time they moved and again in their new location
before they started taking patients. Tena said there was always a priest, protestant minister or rabbi with
the hospital.

In the summer of 1944 Tena wrote of moving often and of the French civilians as they moved across
France. Many of the towns had been heavily bombed and had much destruction. She said that they were
very busy and they heard a lot of gunfire. At that time she was promoted to First Lieutenant.

The German army had retreated from France back to the German border and inhabited well built
concrete pill boxes and other fortified positions; and were also launching a new V two bomb, which was
causing much damage and fear in London.

Tena wrote that mail was very slow, saying that air mail arrived in two to three weeks, and mail with
a three cent stamp took six to eight weeks to arrive Tena said that each nurse had three sets of “fatigues” which they wore for work; and they were
washed with the hospital laundry. She said they would brush the wrinkles out of them, and then put
them under their sleeping bag on their cots. She said the captain got coveralls for them to wear on
moves that were like those the tank troops wore, to keep warm in winter.

As they moved into Germany and winter arrived they would set up the hospital and live in
abandoned schools and buildings. It was very cold as the windows were usually broken; so they
covered the windows with blankets, and they usually had small pot bellied stoves. She went on to
say that it was still very cold, but so much better than the conditions of the boys in the fox holes.

The Battle of the Bulge started in December and caused a large retreat of American and allied
troops from Germany back into Belgium, the Netherlands and France. There were many casualties.

Her citation read, “
First Lieutenant Tena Tarman, Army Nurse Corps, United Stated Army.
For meritorious service in connection with military operations against the
enemy as Charge Nurse, Abdominal and Chest Ward, 97th Evacuation
Hospital, Semi-mobile, from 17 June 1944 to 31 October 1944, in France
and Belgium. When her ward was filled to capacity with seriously ill patients,
First Lieutenant Tarman, with a minimum of nursing personnel, so directed
and supervised their activities that patients received superior nursing care.
Her personal interest and knowledge of the condition of each patient in her
ward resulted in securing the best possible nursing care and nursing service.
The marked ability and professional skill displayed by First Lieutenant Tarman
reflected credit upon herself and the military service.

In early September Tena flew to Marseille, France to a staging area to wait to sail for home. They
finally sailed for home in late September and arrived at New Port News, Virginia. The day after arriving
sixteen nurses took a train to Chicago.

Tena was discharged October 3, 1945 at Fort Sheridan, which was near Rockford, Illinois.

She then took the Santa Fe from Chicago to Streator ; and there was joined by her niece Phyllis
Goliwas for the last leg of her long trip home to Minonk on the “Doodle Bug”. She said that it was great
to be home and to see everyone.

During the time that she was in Europe Tena said that she was in five campaigns, which were
Normandy, Northern France, the Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe. She had received several
ribbons and the Bronze Star.

Following her discharge from the Army Nurse Corps Tena worked for a year as a public health
nurse in Peoria, Illinois. Then she attended George Peabody Teacher’s College in Nashville, Tennessee
where she received certification for public health nursing in 1948.

In the summer of 1948 she moved to Decatur, Illinois and began a career as a school nurse in
the Decatur Public Schools. She received her Bachelor of Science Degree from Milliken University
in August 1951, and her Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Illinois in August 1965.